As an example of a medical device system that includes a plurality of medical devices, there has been a conventional medical device system in which a medical device that has detected an anomaly in an apparatus reports the anomaly to the other medical devices at the same time. However, reporting an anomaly to the other medical devices at the same time in this medical device system actually means that the anomaly is reported sequentially from one medical device to another. Thus, if an untransmitted piece of data destined for another medical device is still left when an anomaly in the apparatus has been detected, a delay in reporting the anomaly will occur due to the untransmitted piece of data.
Further, as another example of a medical device system that includes a plurality of medical devices, there has also been a medical device system (hereinafter referred to as a “memory-sharing-type medical device system”) in which a shared memory area is provided in a memory included in each of the medical devices and latest pieces of device state data of the plurality of medical devices are recorded in the shared memory area. According to the memory-sharing-type medical device system, each of the medical devices can check states of the other medical devices by periodically monitoring the shared memory area of the memory provided therein, which results in, for example, performing the above-described reporting of an anomaly promptly without any delay.
With respect to the memory-sharing-type medical device system, the following system is known. For example, an endoscopic system in which a shared area is provided in a memory included in each of a plurality of peripheral devices and pieces of data of setting information or the like of the plurality of peripheral devices are recorded in the shared areas (see, for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2008-86666).
In the conventional memory-sharing-type medical device system, it is possible to share fixed data between a plurality of medical devices using a memory included in each of the plurality of medical devices.